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Recap of Supernatural
Season 5, Episode 12
Swap Meat
Written by Julie Siege, Rebecca Dessertine, and Harvey Fedor; teleplay by Julie Siege.
Directed by Robert Singer.
Air Date: January 28, 2010.
Gary, a teenage nerd, meets Dean and Sam and conjures up a body-switching spell, exchanging bodies with Sam. Thrilled with his new looks, Gary takes advantage of his new appearance by hitting on women and drinking alcohol. He meets up with Dean, who at first does not realize Sam is not the real Sam. The two start working on a case and kill a ghost together, although "Sam" seems to try to take a chance to kill Dean, unknowingly to Dean. Meanwhile, Sam is stuck in Gary's body and has to deal with his strict parents and high school. He finds out that Gary owns a book with satanic symbols all over it and sets off for his locker at high school. After he has retrieved the book, he is shot by Gary's friend Trevor with a tranquilizer gun. He and another friend of Gary's, Nora, take him to a basement and reveal that they have made a pact with a demon, who offered them everything they wanted in exchange for Sam and Dean. Trevor conjures the demon, who possesses Nora and kills Trevor, whose demands irritate the demon. As the demon tastes Trevor's innards it declares they "taste like moron". The demon (still in the form of Nora) goes after Gary and tries to persuade him to meet Lucifer and "answer one little question" with "yes", which would let the Devil into his True Vessel. Gary refuses and, with Dean's help, exorcizes the demon. In the end, Gary reverses the spell and the boys take him home. Before leaving, Sam tells Gary that he should be glad to have a normal life and a family, but when he and Dean get into the car, he states that Gary's life "sucked ass". Dean counters by saying that perhaps they themselves just don't know the good things they're missing out on.
Body count
For this episode = 1 human, 1 witch, 1 ghost and 1 demon.For the series so far = At least 355 humans (of which 7 were witches), 56 demons, 33 ghosts, 11 vampires, 9 hellhounds, 6 changelings, 4 angels, 4 gods, 3 shapeshifters, 3 zombies, 2 ghouls, 2 werewolves, 2 dogs, 1 crocotta, 1 djinn, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 rugaru, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 wendigo, and 1 wraith.
Tropes
- And a Diet Coke: And a Healthquake Salad Shake.
- Apologetic Attacker: Gary as he's about to kill Dean.
- Breather Episode: The last one of this season...
- Bullying a Dragon: Trevor with the demon he summoned, and Gary with Dean.
- Burger Fool: Gary even wears a red white and blue cap.
- Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Or maybe in front—Gary is Blown Across the Room by an invisible ghost just as he's about to shoot Dean In the Back. Ironically Dean is then saved from the ghost by Gary, who burns her bones as she's charging him.
- Deal with the Devil: These never end well, but only poor Nora is smart enough to fear dark entities.
- Dominatrix: The older woman Gary picked up at the bar enters the bedroom in black vinyl, whacking a switch against her palm.Gary: I am in way over my head.
- Dramatic Irony: "Who are you, and what have you done with Sam?" Dean says this jokingly, not realizing he's literally Not Himself.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Subverted. Gary is the most unsympathetic bonehead to mis-use dark magic since Wesley from Wishful Thinking, but still seems to be just a teenage dumbass way in over his head. Then his friend gets him on the phone and asks why he hasn't killed Dean Winchester yet. Turns out these dumb teenagers are in cahoots with demons and want to offer up Hell's Most Wanted for a reward.
- Played straight with Trevor, who foolishly thinks he can order around a demon he summoned. This only achieves something very predictable.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: the premise of the episode. Dean regularly makes fun of Sam for being reserved and research-oriented. Imagine his surprise when the nerdiest guy ever takes over Sam's body.
- Grand Theft Me: Via body swap.
- How We Got Here: We start out with Sam acting like some bedazzled teenager who's never been in a bar, ordered alcohol, or been hit on by a woman before. Then the camera pans over a mirror and shows an entirely different person wearing Sam's clothes. The rest of the episode shows how that happened.
- Instant Sedation: Sam, despite being huge, drops like a rock.
- Loophole Abuse: Sam is Satan's intended vessel, but must give permission to be possessed. As it turns out, it's only Sam's body that's needed, not his soul. The demon realizes that with Gary in Sam's body, he can give permission. Presumably anyway, we never learn for sure.
- Out-of-Character Alert:
- When "Sam" says "Evening, barkeep, I would like to purchase some alcohol," it's obvious to anyone who knows Sam that he would never say that. It also made the bartender very suspicious. Because of this, Dean figures out fairly quickly that somebody else is possessing his brother's body.
- Sam referring to himself in the third person and not knowing his locker number tips off Gary's friends that the body swap has already taken place.
- Really 17 Years Old: "I am 26, as you can see from my license."
- Master of Unlocking: Sam and the combination lock on the locker.
- Mistaken for Junkie: Police, family, and friends assume Gary is drunk or high when Sam is in his body.
- Mrs. Robinson: Crystal.
- Nerds Are Virgins: "Who are you?" Checks out his AP Physics and Chemistry textbooks. "Smart kid." Checks out his Darth Vader T-shirt. "Virgin." Finds Busty Asian Beauties in a box under his bed. "Frustrated virgin."
- Oblivious to Love: Sam has to tell Gary that Nora isn't into Satanism; she's into Gary.
- Poltergeist: Maggie Briggs. According to Sam!Gary, she was killed by Isaiah Pickett for carrying his illegitimate child and he buried her body inside the basement. After her death, she comes back as a ghost by bumping, knocking and scratching inside the walls, breaking objects and attacking Donna, whose torso is carved "Murdered Chylde" into her skin.
- Porn Stash: Busty Asian Beauties under the bed.
- Precocious Crush: Dean and his babysitter.
- Showing Off the New Body: Downplayed, but Gary in Sam's body still gets a couple of quick bicep flexes in.
- Simple, yet Awesome: The demon's opinion of Trevor's desires for millions of dollars and a hot girlfriend, which she dubs sticking to the basics. Naturally, the tone in which she says it implies Trevor is about to get hurt, which he fails to pick up on.
- Sleeping Dummy
- To the Pain: "OK, pal, either you start talking or I start waterboarding."
- The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Inverted Trope, since the person in the body is shown as we know them (such as Sam playing Sam's consciousness), but the mirror shows which body they're in.
- Third-Person Person
- Tome of Eldritch Lore:Sam: Oh, no, Gary. This is a very, very bad book.
- Too Dumb to Live: Trevor.
- Tranquilizer Dart: The weapon of choice for the teenage witches.
- Unlucky Everydude: Gary.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Sam discovering his new body is allergic to gluten.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Sam and Gary may be back in their proper bodies, and the ghost has been dealt with, and Gary suddenly understands that Nora likes him, but dumbass Trevor is still dead as shit. His parents may be gone for the weekend, but they're in for a shock when they get home. The first people the police are going to want to talk to are his closest friends, and if anyone saw Nora and Sam-in-Gary's-body go inside his house...
- Would Not Hurt A Child: Why Gary is a Karma Houdini.Dean: If you were of voting age...you'd be dead. Because we would kill you. So either you straighten up and fly right, or we will kill you!
- Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: Possibly the truest example up to this point.
